My whole life, I've always been a well-liked person. I did well academically, athletically, and socially. Last year, I graduated high school in the top of my class and am now at what can be considered the number one school in my state. When I ventured off to school and moved out of my house, my girlfriend of 4 years broke up with me. I was in love, I was confident and I had always been confident that we were going to get married and have a family. Then me, the popular kid that everyone thought had all of his **** together, broke down. I started using cocaine recreationally with my fraternity brothers, a few times a month, almost right when I got off to school. Then my girlfriend broke up with me, and I became severely depressed and started using upwards of a gram a day, then more and more and more and more.

I told my parents about my problem and they were understanding and had me see numerous psychologist and psychiatrists, where i was put on so many different medications over the next 3 months, including Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Abilify, Trazadone, Wellbutrin, Buspar, Klonopin, Xanax, Ambien, and probably some more that I can't even remember. These medicines did nothing, and I always ended up using cocaine again. I didn't even use cocaine to get high; cocaine was simply the only anti-depressant that worked.

After I found out that my ex-girlfriend was with someone else, someone that she hung out with a lot while we were still dating, I went on a 4-day cocaine binge, ingesting probably around 6-8 grams of cocaine. No sleep, no food, probably no water. After I finished up the rest of my coke and my roommate left, I decided that I didn't want to live anymore. I wrote out a long letter to my family and friends, then proceeded to take a bottle of 60 1mg Klonopin and a bottle of 30 10mg Ambien, chewing them all up, then drank some whiskey and put a plastic bag over my head with a rubber band around the base so that I would eventually pass out and then suffocate. My roommate happened to forget his keys so when he came back into the room to grab them, he found me and ripped the bag off of my head and called 911. I was hospitalized, and sent to an addiction/mental health institution for 7 days.

After I was released, I was put on more meds, but none of them worked. I continued to use cocaine pretty regularly. I withdrew from school for the rest of the semester and moved home, still using cocaine regularly. Then the spring rolled around and I went back to school. Me and my girlfriend got back together, and I managed to pull my self together and stop using cocaine as much. I still had such a craving for it, like just thinking about it would make my nose water and my mouth salivate. But I managed to slow it down considerably.

I had never tried LSD before, but had heard of people having profound life-changing experiences from it. One of my friends got his hands on some blotter sheets and I decided I'd try it with a few friends. It completely changed my life. There is no other way to describe it besides saying that it made me realize what life is and what life isn't; what's important and what's not, etc. It made me think about things in a completely different way and appreciate all I have.

After the first time I did LSD, I have not had the desire to do cocaine ever again. Not saying this will happen to you, but it happened to me. I am a completely different, appreciative, ego-less, caring, loving person. It's like I was born again and given the chance to start life over. Don't let this scare you into not trying LSD, I'm a different person FOR THE BETTER. I care about other people more, I care about myself more, etc. Just last week, I needed some money for groceries so I sold my xbox to someone for 200 dollars and a gram of cocaine, and I was able to have the cocaine in my possession for a few hours before selling it to someone else without even thinking about doing any of it. If you're a coke head, you know that this is a big deal.

I don't have the desire to do LSD all the time. Sure, it has done wonders for me mentally and made me a better person that doesn't suffer from severe depression anymore, but I don't feel the need to do it all the time either; only when I feel like I need to re-evaluate my life.

Sorry for the rant, but I just needed to vent all this out. I seriously feel like I owe my life to LSD.

camelrider

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Ayahuasca found to improve hard-to-treat depression

By Andy Coghlan

It tastes foul and makes people vomit. But ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew that has been drunk in South America for centuries in religious rituals, may help people with depression that is resistant to antidepressants. Tourists are increasingly trying ayahuasca during holidays to countries such as Brazil and Peru, where the psychedelic drug is legal. Now the world’s first randomized clinical trial of ayahuasca for treating depression has found that it can rapidly improve mood. The trial, which took place in Brazil, involved administering a single dose to 14 people with treatment-resistant depression, while 15 people with the same condition received a placebo drink.

A week later, those given ayahuasca showed dramatic improvements, with their mood shifting from severe to mild on a standard scale of depression. “The main evidence is that the antidepressant effect of ayahuasca is superior to the placebo effect,” says Dráulio de Araújo of the Brain Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, who led the trial.

Shamans traditionally prepare the bitter, deep-brown brew of ayahuasca using two plants native to South America. The first, Psychotria viridis, is packed with the mind-altering compound dimetheyltryptamine (DMT). The second, the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi), contains substances that stop DMT from being broken down before it crosses the gut and reaches the brain. To fool placebo recipients into thinking they were getting the real thing, de Araújo and his team concocted an equally foul tasting brown-coloured drink. They also carefully selected participants who had never tried ayahuasca or other psychedelic drugs before.

A day before their dose, the participants filled in standard questionnaires to rate their depression. The next day, they spent 8 hours in a quiet, supervised environment, where they received either the placebo or the potion, which produces hallucinogenic effects for around 4 hours. They then repeated filling in the questionnaires one, two and seven days later. Both groups reported substantial improvements one and two days after the treatment, with placebo scores often as high as those of people who had taken the drug. In trials of new antidepressant drugs, it is common for as many as 40 per cent of participants to respond positively to placebos, says de Araújo. But a week into this trial, 64 per cent of people who had taken ayahuasca felt the severity of their depression reduce by 50 per cent or more. This was true for only 27 per cent of those who drank the placebo.

“The findings suggest a rapid antidepressant benefit for ayahuasca, at least for the short term,” says David Mischoulon of Massachusetts General Hospital. “But we need studies that follow patients for longer periods to see whether these effects are sustained.”

“There is clearly potential to explore further how this most ancient of plant medicines may have a salutary effect in modern treatment settings, particularly in patients who haven’t responded well to conventional treatments,” says Charles Grob at the University of California, Los Angeles.

If the finding holds up in longer studies, it could be a valuable new tool for helping people with treatment-resistant depression. An estimated 350 million people worldwide experience depression, and between a third to a half of them don’t improve when given standard antidepressants. Ayahuasca isn’t the only psychedelic drug being investigated as a potential treatment for depression. Researchers have also seen some benefits with ketamine and psilocybin, extracted from magic mushrooms, although psilocybin is yet to be tested against a placebo.

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Treating depression with psychedelics

Depression is a challenging and often long-term condition that can be very difficult to treat. In clinical studies, psychedelics have shown significant long-term positive impact on mood, even when used in just a single session.

Many people who have suffered from depression and later recovered find that they need a combination of approaches to stay healthy. Good nutrition, exercise, more time with friends, lower stress, and personal introspection (through therapy, psychedelics, or meditation) can be a powerful combination.

For decades, psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms and LSD have been used in clinical studies, private therapy, and at home to alleviate depression. More recently, the prescription medication ketamine has shown incredible results for depression.

Here’s one man’s story from a recent clinical study, as reported in the New York Times:

As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.

Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.

Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects.

Clinical studies like this one that use psilocybin and LSD to study depression have a very simple protocol. Participants are invited to come to a research room that has been setup to feel comfortable and they take a dose of the substance. A researcher sits with them for the duration of the experience (typically 4-6 hours) and may talk them through any anxiety that arises. But generally, the participants simply remain quiet and feel the experience, following where their thoughts and feelings take them.

This setup can be replicated at home or in another comfortable setting. The most essential elements are a comfortable space, plenty of time to stay in the experience, and someone you trust who can support you during the experience.

-howtousepsychedelics.org

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LSD, along with my family and friends, has saved my life. In April, I attempted to kill myself before my birthday. I didn't want another year, I didn't want another day, I didn't want to spend another agonizing minute staring up at my ceiling, immobilized by suicidal thoughts and self loathing. It's funny that I did in a way kill myself. April 8 was the first time I took LSD, and for what felt like the first time, I was overwhelmed by joy, peace, and love. Still foolishly I thought that my happiness was synthetic, brought on by nothing more than a chemical that inhibits the re uptake of serotonin and dopamine. Still, I saw and believed the potential of psychedelics to understand one's true self.

I experienced ego death last weekend after admittedly too much LSD (dosage: 400 micrograms) and it was liberating. I saw the deepest, darkest parts of what was inside of me, who I was, rot away. Ego death was uncomfortable to say the least, it's important to let people know psychedelics are not always sunshine and rainbows. It stripped everything away from me, every feeling, every memory, every thought even. I faced every single one of my demons and they died too. They stayed dead, I came back to earth somehow and I was welcomed by the thought, 'Stop trying to become someone worthy of love, for you are already immensely loved.' I've never been more at peace in my entire life. I needed to have the false aspects of my life, which I empowered to the point of reality, killed and separated from who I am.

LSD gave me this beautiful experience of life and death, but more importantly it gave me my life back. I was blind to the love that was all around me, but now I really do see how wonderful and awe-inspiring this life really is. I am writing this with a purpose. I am sharing my story, to help someone else who is in a similar situation, and I also ask that you share yours as well. I would love to hear it and I am sure there are some who need to hear it.

izzyjimenez

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In the early 2000s, a handful of scientists began looking into psychedelics as a way to relieve anxiety and addiction after reviewing the experiments of researchers from the '50s and '60s. In one study, cancer patients were given psilocybin, a component of psychedelic mushrooms. Each patient was given one dose and then allowed to trip in a hospital room designed to look like a living room. Two medical professionals stayed close by.

Afterward, almost all of the participants experienced a significant reduction in anxiety and depression. Scientists checked in with the patients six months later; all reported that they still felt calmer and happier. Gail Thomas, a cancer survivor who participated in the New York University study, told me that the treatment helped her overcome a deep sense of loneliness. "The main message from the trip was that we're all connected," she said. "We're not alone."

"The fact that a drug given once can have such an effect for so long is an unprecedented finding," NYU psychiatrist Stephen Ross told the New Yorker. "We have never had anything like it in the psychiatric field."

-Daniel Miller

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Megadosing for 5 years cured my depression and anxiety disorders. My brothers both still suffer terribly. These substances have been used by healers in other cultures for thousands of years. At the very least, they should be legal to prescribe.

-Gungalagunga

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First LSD trial in 40 years shows promise

by Nancy Wride

A small trial conducted in 2014 in Switzerland demonstrated the potential for LSD-assisted psychotherapy to reduce anxiety stemming from terminal illness. At 2-month follow-up,
participants who were randomly assigned to treatment with LSD showed significant reductions in state anxiety. At one-year follow-up, participants in the LSD group demonstrated
sustained therapeutic benefit with no acute or chronic adverse affects.

The first research in 40 years testing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) has found that it markedly reduced anxiety in patients facing life-threatening diseases. The results of the
study of LSD use as a supplement to psychotherapy were published this month online in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

“The double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study in 12 subjects found statistically significant reductions in anxiety associated with advanced stage illness following two LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions,” announced the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which sponsored the study. “The results also indicate that LSD-assisted psychotherapy can be safely administered in these subjects, and justify further research.”

The lead doctor, Dr. Peter Gasser — who has taken LSD himself during therapy — said he found the results encouraging for what the LSD did for patients as well as what it did not do.

“The study was a success in the sense that we did not have any noteworthy adverse effects,” principal investigator Peter Gasser, a psychiatrist practicing in Solothurn, Switzerland, said in a news release. “All participants reported a personal benefit from the treatment, and the effects were stable over time.”

One of the participants in the clinical trial described an emotional departure from the clench of worry and panic over his mortality — an altered state and a classic hallucinogenic trip.

“My LSD experience brought back some lost emotions and the ability to trust, lots of psychological insights, and a timeless moment when the universe didn’t seem like a trap, but
like a revelation of utter beauty,” Peter, an Austrian research subject, said in the LSD research announcement.

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Psilocybin found to lift depression

Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic drug derived from magic mushrooms, could be useful in treating depression, the first safety study of this approach has concluded.

Researchers from Imperial College London gave 12 people psilocybin, the active component in magic mushrooms. All had been clinically depressed for 17.8 years on average. None of the patients had responded to standard medications, such as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), or had electroconvulsive therapy.

One week after receiving an oral dose of psilocybin, all patients experienced a marked improvement in their symptoms. Three months on, five patients were in complete remission.

“That is pretty remarkable in the context of currently available treatments,” says Robin Carhart-Harris, a neuropsychopharmacologist at Imperial College London and first author of the latest study, which is published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

The equivalent remission rate for SSRIs is around 20%.

The study's authors are not suggesting that psilocybin should be a treatment of last resort for depressed patients. “Our conclusion is more sober than that — we are simply saying that this is doable,” says Carhart-Harris. “We can give psilocybin to depressed patients, they can tolerate it, and it is safe. This gives us an initial impression of the effectiveness of the treatment.”

Scientists at the Heffter Research Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have been investigating how psilocybin could be used to alleviate depression and anxiety in people with terminal cancer, but this is the first study to look specifically at how psilocybin could be used to treat depression alone.

“It’s worth noting that we have not developed any new treatments which are widely used since the 1970s for depression, despite the fact that this is the major public-health problem in the Western world and middle-income countries,” says Glyn Lewis, who studies psychiatric disorders at University College London. "Particularly interesting," he says, "is the fact that psilocybin seems to take effect with a single dose, unlike some current medications for depression that must be taken daily."

“This study is simply asking: is this interesting enough to pursue further as a treatment for depression?” says Lewis. “My own judgement is that yes, it is.”

-Zoe Cormier

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I'd been depressed for maybe 10 years, took a low dose of mushrooms, and I felt like I had been given a new beginning the next day. I had immense motivation, and a thirst for knowledge which had long since passed. This beautiful mindset lasted for close to 6 months.

-Changed

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Recent scientific studies have found magic mushrooms to be effective in alleviating severe depression in volunteers during clinical trials. One such study, published in The Lancet, took 12 patients that had been depressed for an average 17.8 years. After just one week of receiving an oral dose of psilocybin — the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms — all patients experienced a solid improvement in their symptoms. Even more surprising was the fact after three months, five were in complete remission. The healing power of psilocybin is something Boaz claims to have first-hand experience with.

“I used to suffer depression and anxiety, but that all changed when I took mushrooms. It was an emotional release and for weeks and months following, my depression was all but gone.”

-Matthew Dunn

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I started crying the first time I tried mushrooms. I remember being so thankful for everything that's happened to me and I truly felt positive. A couple of months ago I was suicidally depressed and tried everything from anti-depressants and therapy. A single dose of mushrooms and no more depression.

-Flanktotheright

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I took two tabs of LSD a month ago on Sunday and I have noticed an absolute change in my overall personality and mood. I have PTSD, BPD, chronic depression and severe anxiety. I would not say that I am cured, but I have been lifted out of my usual depressive state. Even my manager and my sister-in-law have noticed, and have commented on, the change in how I present myself and respond to stress. I've literally never felt better in my life, and plan on taking it again.

-izgoyev_bessmertna

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Psychedelics promote neuronal plasticity which is far more than can be said for Big Pharma substances.The overwhelming majority of positive after-effects of hallucinogens come in part from this enhanced neuronal plasticity directed in a positive fashion. Conversely this plasticity can be used to strengthen circuits responsible for fear and paranoia thus creating the negative effects of hallucinogen use. Essentially, it's what you make of it.

My bipolar symptoms lean toward the manic side, and in my observation/opinion this can be modeled as a long-duration standing wave in the brain that cycles between 2 poles (perhaps 4!). To treat it, one would attempt to bring these poles closer together then diminish the divergence between them thereby creating stabilized neurotransmitter flow a la lithium but with a bit more pizzaz. Previously I oscillated intensely between depressive and manic phases tending more towards severe depression. This was semi-permanently reversed using sustained usage of DMT-huascas. Presumably the serotonin receptor density enhancing effects of huascas were the primary factor in moving the depressive pole upward to a level plane.

Based on my experience I would suggest alternating between microdoses of psilocybin and ibogaine, the doses being set in proportion to the interval between manic and depressive
phases and their relative intensities. During this time a directed effort towards balancing neural chemistry is of paramount importance: this could be facilitated by means of things such as meditation and holotropic breathwork, art and music therapies. Piracetam is also a very good idea as it enhances brain hemispheric communication. Prior studies have shown that the two hemispheres almost act as independent persons/selves and it is possible that bipolar may in part arise due to strong dissonance between the hemispheres. Just a hypothesis.

-crkhd

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I've only done mushrooms once, about a month ago. Before I did them, I was very depressed and was considering suicide. I've been chronicly depressed for as long as I can remember, but I've never been to see a doctor about it or taken anti depressants. I didn't intend to take mushrooms so I didn't do any preparation beforehand.

I took three in 30-minute increments and was moderately drinking. I got high, but didn't see anything or experience anything profound. But the week after I felt amazing! Calm and in control of my emotions. I felt happy, and negative emotions had no weight to them.

Even now that the afterglow has worn off, I still feel better. Not as good and life still gets on top of me some days, but it was like it reset my moods and I can cope easier. I haven't had the urge to drink like I did either, which was a big thing before I took them.